What happened
Shares of Meta Platforms (META -10.56%) jumped by as much as 2.6% on Thursday. As of 2:12 p.m. ET, the stock was still up by 1.2%.
The social media giant rode the broader market's move higher, but it likely also got a boost from news that a limited test of its "Subscriptions" feature was coming to its Instagram platform.
So what
In a blog post that dropped late Wednesday, Meta Platforms announced that it was bringing Subscriptions to Instagram:
Image source: Getty Images.
"At Meta, we strongly believe in enabling creators to make a living through our platforms and have built a suite of tools to allow them to do that," the blog post read, "helping them get support from their audience, partner with brands, and earn money from advertising or bonuses directly from Instagram and Facebook."
Beginning immediately, a handful of select creators will be able to start testing the feature, which allows them to unlock a "subscribe" button on their profile page and set a monthly subscription charge. Creators will also have the ability to generate exclusive content for subscribers. This includes private Live broadcasts designed to increase engagement and creating Stories content specifically for those subscribers, among other options. Additionally, a "subscriber" badge will appear in the comments to help creators better identify their paying followers.
The Facebook platform debuted Subscriptions back in 2020 as a way to encourage creators to develop content for the platform. The company said that it won't charge any fees for these services until at least 2023.
Now what
Meta Platforms is exploring a number of avenues to expand its reach, including investing heavily in the metaverse. Its foray into the creator economy is another such move, providing financial incentives for creators who already operate on the platform and offering an enticement for others to join.
Last year, Meta said it planned to pay more than $1 billion to content creators by the end of 2022. By encouraging influencers to develop exclusive content for its family of social media sites, Meta expects to make them even stickier for the more than 3.5 billion users who use them every month.
